For almost a year my family and I looked forward to this cruise. We traveled as part of a group of 17 family members and friends after a hard year full of grief and disappointment. I spent the entire summer in the ICU following surgical removal of a tumor from inside my heart, six weeks in a coma and then, shortly after my discharge, lost my mother to breast cancer. In short, we all needed a smooth, relaxing vacation. Unfortunately, the NCL's Norwegian Jewel did not offer one.

We drove to the Port of Miami from my father's Florida residence. On the outside, the cruise terminal area looked like the surrounding freight terminals. A porter promptly removed our bags from our car and left them standing unattended on the roadside while we went to park the car. They were eventually collected some time after we walked back to the terminal. Parking was easy and free because our vehicle has a handicap parking permit. We gathered at the lot exit and waited for the courtesy shuttle to take us back to the terminal check-in area. It never arrived, so we schlepped back with all our carry-on bags, medical equipment, and gallons of distilled water needed for that equipment.

In the terminal, agents whisked us from station to station quickly and without hassle. Some of us were told we needed to fill out landing cards for Tortola while others in our group were sent ahead only to find this out later and be sent back to do so. The only real hassle was the delay caused by the photographer/sniper. While I expect this hassle a few times during a cruise NCL was shameless in this persistence. Once the cruise began, we were constantly stopped to have our pictures taken and later sold to us at overly inflated prices. I wonder how much money went wasted on unsold photos as we purchased absolutely none of ours. Read more